Venezuela
Venezuela (; American Spanish: [beneswela] (listen)), officially the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela (Spanish: Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country
on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a
continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean
Sea. It has a territorial extension of 916,445 km2 (353,841
sq mi), and its population was estimated at 29 million
in 2022. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the
city of Caracas.
The continental territory is bordered on the north
by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the
west by Colombia, Brazil on the south, Trinidad and Tobago
to the north-east and on the east by Guyana. The
Venezuelan government maintains a claim against Guyana to Guayana Esequiba.
Venezuela is a federal presidential republic consisting of 23 states,
the Capital District and federal dependencies covering Venezuela's offshore islands.
Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America;
the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of
the north and in the capital.
The territory of Venezuela was
colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples.
In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories
to declare independence from the Spanish and to form part,
as a department, of the first federal Republic of Colombia
(historiographically known as Gran Colombia). It separated as a full
sovereign country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered
political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional military dictators
until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had
a series of democratic governments, as an exception where most
of the region was ruled by military dictatorships, and the
period was characterized by economic prosperity. Economic shocks in the
1980s and 1990s led to major political crises and widespread
social unrest, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two
attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of a President
for embezzlement of public funds charges in 1993. The collapse
in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 Venezuelan
presidential election, the catalyst for the Bolivarian Revolution, which began
with a 1999 Constituent Assembly, where a new Constitution of
Venezuela was imposed. The government's populist social welfare policies were
bolstered by soaring oil prices, temporarily increasing social spending, and
reducing economic inequality and poverty in the early years of
the regime. However, poverty began to increase in the 2010s.
The 2013 Venezuelan presidential election was widely disputed leading to
widespread protest, which triggered another nationwide crisis that continues to
this day. Venezuela has experienced democratic backsliding, shifting into
an authoritarian state. It ranks low in international measurements of
freedom of the press and civil liberties and has high
levels of perceived corruption.Venezuela is a developing country and ranks
113th on the Human Development Index. It has the world's
largest known oil reserves and has been one of the
world's leading exporters of oil. Previously, the country was an
underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa,
but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues.
The excesses and poor policies of the incumbent government led
to the collapse of Venezuela's entire economy. The country struggles
with record hyperinflation, shortages of basic goods, unemployment, poverty, disease,
high child mortality, malnutrition, severe crime and corruption. These factors
have precipitated the Venezuelan migrant crisis where more than three
million people have fled the country. By 2017, Venezuela was
declared to be in default regarding debt payments by credit
rating agencies. The crisis in Venezuela has contributed to a
rapidly deteriorating human rights situation, including increased abuses such as
torture, arbitrary imprisonment, extrajudicial killings and attacks on human rights
advocates. Venezuela is a charter member of the UN, Organization
of American States (OAS), Union of South American Nations (UNASUR),
ALBA, Mercosur, Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) and Organization of
Ibero-American States (OEI).
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